Gulf of Mexico to Become ‘Gulf of America’ on Google Maps Following Trump’s Order

Staff Writer
(Photo: Archive)

Google Maps will soon rename the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America,” following an executive order from President Donald Trump just hours after he took office.

This name change will be visible in the United States, with “Gulf of Mexico” appearing on Google Maps for users in other countries.

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The US government officially renamed the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America and also restored the name “Mount McKinley” to North America’s highest peak, which had been changed to Denali during the Obama administration. Trump’s team confirmed these changes last week.

“The Gulf of Mexico will now officially be known as the Gulf of America, and North America’s highest peak will once again bear the name Mount McKinley,” the Department of the Interior said in a statement.

Once the name update is confirmed in the US Geographic Names System, Google Maps will reflect the change to Mount McKinley as well.

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Mount McKinley, the highest mountain in North America, was renamed Denali in 2015 as a gesture to honor Alaska Natives, but now the Trump administration is reversing that change.

“We’ve received a few questions about naming within Google Maps,” the company posted on X (formerly Twitter) Monday. “We have a longstanding practice of applying name changes when they have been updated in official government sources.”

Meanwhile, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum playfully suggested earlier this month that North America should be renamed “Mexican America,” a name that appeared on early maps of the region.

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Google has applied similar rules for labeling places with naming disputes. For instance, the body of water between Japan and South Korea is listed as the “Sea of Japan (East Sea)” in most countries outside of those two.

In 2012, Iran threatened legal action against Google after the company removed the term “Persian Gulf” from its maps, leaving the waterway between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula unnamed. Now, the body of water is labeled “Persian Gulf (Arabian Gulf)” in some countries.

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